MEN S AND WOMEN S SWIMMING AND DIVING

MEN S AND WOMEN S SWIMMING AND DIVING Conference Office Liaisons. The following SEC staff members are the designated liaisons for men s and women s swimming and diving: Sport Administrator TBD; Communications Jill Skotarczak. REGULAR-SEASON COMPETITION Artificial Noisemakers. [SEC Bylaw 30.22.1.5e] Artificial noisemakers shall not be brought into or used in any sports venue during games between member institutions. Each institution must have statements printed on tickets and notices to the effect that such noisemakers will not be permitted inside its competition areas. Awards. The General Administration section of the Commissioner s Regulations provides a complete list and guidelines for all Conference awards. In addition, the recipients of the sport-specific awards listed below will be selected as follows: 1. All-SEC Teams. The first team consists of the top finisher in each event. The second team consists of the second and third place finishers in each event. 2. All-Freshman Team. The team consists of any redshirt or true freshman who finishes either in the top eight or is the highest scoring freshman of each event, excluding relay events. Ties will not be broken. If no freshman scores, there is no representative for that event. 3. Swimmer of the Year. The recipient will be determined by vote of the head coaches. The ballot will be provided to coaches following completion of the NCAA Championships. 4. Diver of the Year. The recipient will be determined by vote of the head coaches. The ballot will be provided to coaches following completion of the NCAA Championships. 5. Freshman Swimmer of the Year. The recipient will be determined by vote of the head coaches. The ballot will be provided to coaches following completion of the NCAA Championships. 6. Freshman Diver of the Year. The recipient will be determined by vote of the head coaches. The ballot will be provided to coaches following completion of the NCAA Championships. 7. Swimmer of the Meet. The recipient will be determined by vote of the head coaches. Coaches will vote by write-in, there will not be a nomination process. Each coach must drop their ballot into the scratch box prior to the last relay of the meet. The award will be announced at the conclusion of the championship. [Coaches may not vote for their own student-athlete] 8. Diver of the Meet. The recipient will be determined by vote of the head coaches. Coaches will vote by writein, there will not be a nomination process. Each coach must drop their ballot into the scratch box prior to the last relay of the meet. The award will be announced at the conclusion of the championship. [Coaches may not vote for their own student-athlete] 9. Coaches of the Year. A swimming coach of the year and a diving coach of the year will be chosen annually. The recipients will be determined by vote of the head coaches. The ballot will be provided to coaches following NCAA competition. 10. Scholar-Athlete of the Year. See General Administration section of the Commissioner s Regulations. The ballot will be provided to coaches following NCAA competition. 122

11. Community Service Team. See General Administration section of the Commissioner s Regulations. 12. Swimmer of the Week. See General Administration section of the Commissioner s Regulations. 13. Diver of the Week. See General Administration section of the Commissioner s Regulations. 14. Freshman of the Week. See General Administration section of the Commissioner s Regulations. Coaches Committee. [SEC Bylaw 21.9] The coaches committee will be made up of three head coaches from different institutions and will follow an alphabetical rotation with one coach rotating off the committee each year. For 2015-2016, the coaches committee will include Vanderbilt, Alabama, and Arkansas. Subsequent years will be as follows: Alabama, Arkansas, and Auburn (2016-2017), Arkansas, Auburn, and Florida (2017-2018), and Auburn, Florida, and Georgia (2018-2019). A chart listing the complete rotation will be maintained by the Conference office. Coaches Meeting [SEC Bylaw 21.8] Each head coach is required to attend the annual coaches meeting in April at the SEC Office. The diving coach for the next year s championship host may also attend. Coaches Meeting Chair. The chair of the annual coaches meeting will be an alphabetical rotation with Vanderbilt serving as the chair for 2015-2016. Subsequent years will be as follows: Alabama (2016-2017), Arkansas (2017-2018) and Auburn (2018-2019). A chart listing the complete rotation will be maintained by the Conference office. Coaches may not serve as chair during their first year as an SEC coach. Conference Championship. The Conference champions (men and women) will be determined by a meet of all member institutions sponsoring a team. The championship shall be conducted under the guidelines outlined in these Commissioner's Regulations. Officials. Each official is entitled to a maximum of two complimentary tickets to the competition. Officials shall contact the ticket offices directly. The deadline for ticket requests is ten days prior to the competition. Regular-Season Competition/Scheduling. Each member institution having a swimming/diving team shall participate in Conference competition. The Conference office shall schedule these meets. Each institution shall set the dates and times. Score shall be kept during these events. Squad Size. [See Supplement D of the General Administration section] The home team may dress all eligible student-athletes in uniform, but only 24 student-athletes may participate in a Conference contest. CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS Administrative Meeting. Coaches from each institution competing in the Conference championships shall attend a mandatory meeting prior to the start of the championships to review policies and procedures. Appeals. Appeals will be considered in accordance with NCAA rules. Appeals may be lodged only for errors in entries, scratches, recording of data, scoring and non-judgment errors in the application of rules. Films or videotape will not be used in the appeals process, except for the relay take-offs (see the Video Replay section of the regulations). Appeal forms may be obtained from the referee. The written statement made on the appeal form must be submitted to the referee no later than 15 minutes after the finish of the final heat/round of that event in which the appeal is applicable. The meet committee will act upon all appeals. The decision of the committee is final. (NCAA Rule 8.4.9) Awards Ceremony. An awards ceremony will be conducted immediately after the championship heat of each event (finalist for the diving event will be announced before the swimming award presentations where applicable). The top three finishers will go directly to the awards stand after they complete their event and before they begin their warmdown. The host institution may use dignitaries to present awards for the relays only. For individual events, a member of the coaching staff from the top finisher will present awards. Individuals must wear team sweat suits during the presentation of awards. The winners must be in team warm-ups and will not be allowed to bring towels or other items to the award stand. Hats cannot be worn, unless they are a part of the official team warm-up. Media personnel will not 123

be allowed to interview student athletes before the award ceremony. All winners must participate in the award ceremony unless they have been given an exception by the meet committee. Banners. Only one team banner may be placed in each team's seating area. Dates and Sites. The 2016 Championships will be February 16-20, at the University of Missouri. Future sites of the championship are: 2017 Tennessee 2018 Texas A&M 2019 Georgia If another institution acquires facilities that meet the minimum hosting specifications set forth in these Commissioner s Regulations, such institution will enter the hosting rotation beginning in 2018 (before any institution in the 5-school rotation repeats as host). Entries for Diving. Divemeets.com will be utilized for the diving portion of the meet and divers should register at divemeets.com prior to the meet. Diving entries must be submitted with the swimming entries and must list the participant s name and the event(s) the diver will be diving. Entries for Swimming. Entries must submitted using the Hy-Tek file. The entry deadline for events is Noon Central Time the Monday preceding the week of the championship (2016 February 15). For swimming entries, only the best time achieved during the school year may be submitted on the entry form (actual or aggregate, whichever is faster). Failure to enter an event properly will be reviewed by the meet committee. A no time entry may be submitted only if the event has NOT been contested or an aggregate relay time cannot be submitted. Format. The championships will be a common-site, men's and women's event, with each meet scored separately. Each institution may enter one relay team per relay event. For preliminaries and finals, all eight lanes will be used per NCAA rule 5.1.5. During finals there shall be three heats of 8 swimmers each swum in the following order C-B-A. Heats. [NCAA Rule 5.1.5.] When eight lanes are available, all eight lanes should be used in preliminary heats and finals. When seeding the swimmers, intentionally leaving empty lanes between them is not permitted. Host Institution Responsibilities. The responsibilities of the host institution s tournament director and sports information contact are listed in the On-Campus Hosting Manual that is produced by the Conference staff and is under separate cover. Manual. A championships manual, outlining the policies and procedures for the event, as well as information specific to the event, will be distributed by the host to each institution no later than four weeks prior to the championships. Meet Committee. The coaches committee shall serve as the meet committee and shall supervise the conduct of the championships, including appeals. A committee member who is directly involved in an appeal shall remove himself/herself from the committee, and the next coach in the committee rotation order shall substitute. The committee may defer any issue to the SEC staff liaison at the championship, whose decision shall be final. The diving coaches will have a separate diving meet committee to handle the technical aspects of the diving events; however, when a situation arises that is outside the technical realm (e.g., conduct, behavior, etc.), the matter will come directly to the swim meet committee. The diving meet committee members will be from the same schools as the swim meet committee. Minimum Hosting Specifications. The championships may only be hosted by a member institution with a facility that meets the following criteria: Minimum of 1,000 spectator seats Adequate deck space for a minimum of 600 participants and championship staff and officials Minimum of eight (8) warm up / cool down lanes Minimum of two (2) 1M and two (2) 3M springboards 124

5M, 7.5M, and 10M platforms Dedicated warm-up area for divers Locker rooms If a facility s visiting locker room is not adequate for all participants, then home team locker rooms must be available to all participants Adequate and accessible treatment space Pool with NCAA required depth Officials. [SEC Bylaw 30.20.2.2] The coaches shall select the following head officials: referee, stroke and turn judge, starter and diving referee. The host shall assign the other officials, however, coaches will be allowed to recommend stroke and turn judges. The assignment of judges shall be as follows: 1. Turns: Four judges at the turn end, two at the start end, plus the referee and starter; 2. Strokes: One on each side of the pool, plus the referee and starter; 3. Timers: Two on each lane; and 4. Relay Take-offs: Head timer in each lane; two additional officials, plus the referee and starter will serve as dual confirmation officials (two lanes per official). A panel of seven non-affiliated judges will be assigned to score the diving events. These judges will be selected by the diving coaches. The diving referee shall serve a dual role of referee and as one of the seven judges. Order of Events. The order of events for trials and finals will be determined at the annual Spring head coaches meeting each year. Men's and women's events will alternate, with the men competing first in the odd years. Player Pass Gate Admissions. Complimentary admissions will be provided only through a pass list for individuals designated by the student-athlete. "Hard tickets" may not be issued. The individual using the complimentary admission must present identification to the person supervising the use of the pass list at the admission gate. The individual then will be provided a ticket stub or other identification of a specified reserved seat or seating area or treated as a generaladmission ticket holder. Pool Safety Manager. The host institution shall appoint a pool safety manager to monitor and designate lanes in the warm up / warm down pool (lane 1 or 8 for sprint and lane 2 or 7 for pace). Monitoring will begin an hour before each session and run through its completion. Psych Sheets, Heat Sheets and Results. The host shall compile a psych sheet for each championship and make it available to all coaches at check-in. The host also shall compile heat sheets for all preliminary and finals sessions, as well as results of each day's competition. A complete set of results shall be forwarded to each institution in a timely manner. Three sets of results shall be forwarded to the Conference office. Relays. Relays will be contested as timed finals in the evening, but a time trial may be contested in the morning, if requested. If a relay is contested in the morning, that swim will constitute a time-standard trial for purposes of qualifying for NCAA championships, inasmuch as the morning option is not a preliminary event. A school may enter only one team in the time-standard trial. Relay time trials do not count toward the maximum number of events a swimmer may enter. A team s seed time cannot be changed by a timed-trial. Scoring. The NCAA 24-place scoring system shall be used. A comparable scoreboard for both the men s and women s championships must be visible and updated frequently. Scratches. Scratches may be made only by the coach (or official team representative) by depositing scratch cards in the designated scratch box. A scratch verification form will be provided and must be used. All entries not scratched will become official entries. The scratch box for all swimming events shall open two hours prior to the start of the 125

swimming finals each evening and close one hour prior to the start of the swimming finals. Only the SEC staff liaison will have access to the scratch box (i.e., sign the scratch receipts, remove the scratches from the box at the deadline, check the scratches and turn them over to the computer operator for entry into the computer). Seeding. All swimming events will be seeded according to short-course standards. When seeding the swimmers or relays, intentionally leaving empty lanes between them is not permitted. In addition, the heats for the 1,650 freestyle will be seeded according to actual 1,650-yard times and will be swum slowest to fastest with the heats alternating between men and women. The 1,650 will begin at a time in the afternoon that will ensure the next to last heats will finish by 5:00 p.m. Spectator Seating. The order of selection for the spectator seating will rotate in reverse order as the team seating. The drawing for spectator seating for the championships will be done during a conference call of all head coaches during the fall semester. Each institution will receive an equal number of spectator seating. Each institution will receive two blocks of seating, one for swimming and a corresponding one for diving. These blocks should rotate by session during the course of the championship. The order for spectator seating for the 2016 championships is as follows: South Carolina, Missouri, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Arkansas/Vanderbilt, Georgia, LSU, Alabama, Kentucky, Florida, and Auburn. Squad Size. [See Supplement D of the General Administration section] Championships is 22 competitors with a maximum of 19 swimmers. The squad size limit for the SEC Team Seating. The drawing for team seating will take place during the coaches meeting in conjunction with the championships. Each institution will receive an equal number of seats. and women s teams will sit together according to the school. The locations for team seating will rotate by session during the course of the championship. The order for team seating for the 2016 championships is as follows: Kentucky, Alabama, LSU, Georgia, Arkansas/Vanderbilt, Tennessee, Texas A&M, Missouri, South Carolina, Auburn, and Florida. Athletes should stay in their team section during competition events. No team member shall be allowed behind the blocks during a race. Tickets. The host institution may decide whether or not to charge for ticketed admission. If an institution chooses to charge for admission, ticket prices shall be set by the host institution, but must be approved by the Conference liaison. In addition, if admission is charged, the host institution should make prior contact with each participating school to determine the form of payment and staffing for the player/guest gate. Institutions are not required to purchase a set amount of tickets. The host institution is encouraged to create a general admission seating section. Time Trials. Time Trials will be held daily after each session (preliminaries and finals). There will be time trials on Sunday following the championship. Touch Pads and Electronic Take-Off Pads. NCAA rule 4.14.6. Relay Judging Platforms (RJP s) will be utilized for the Conference Championship. Uniforms. See General Administration section of Commissioner's Regulations. Video Replay. Video replay may be used to dispute disqualifications declared by the relay judging platforms. The host institution should assure that cameras are placed in an adequate position to display the take-off platforms for all lanes. Procedures for disputing a disqualification will be reviewed with the coaches and the head referee during the prechampionship meeting. Any video replay must take place after the final heat of an event. Warm-Up. One hour before the start of each session, lanes for specific types of warm-up will be designated. 126

2016 SEC Swimming & Diving Competition Schedule Tuesday, February 16 Wednesday, February 17 Thursday, February 18 Friday, February 19 Saturday, February 20 PRELIMS Time Trials 500 Free 400 IM 200 Fly 200 Back (11:00 am start) (1:30 pm start) 200 IM 100 Fly 100 Back 100 Free 50 Free 200 Free 100 Breast 200 Breast 1650 Free (start TBD) FINALS (5:30 pm start) 500 Free 400 IM 200 Fly 1650 Free 200 Medley Relay (6:15 pm start) 200 IM 100 Fly 100 Back 200 Back (6:30 pm start) 50 Free 100 Breast 100 Free 800 Free Relay (7:15 pm start) 200 Free 200 Breast 200 Free Relay 400 Medley Relay 400 Free Relay *Note: In events where men s and women s teams are denoted as competing separately, women s events will take place first in odd years and men s events will take place first in even years. 127